Dear Mom,

 i haven't been able to eat much meat lately (pregnancy symptom), like, kind of not at all - it's turned me back into a vegetarian - but the other day i got a craving for a very Minnesotan meal - something i've seen you make a lot: Tuna fish Casserole:

it was delicious

in addition to making up my own recipe - while consulting online versions - i also discovered that i didn't have any cream soups.  my favorite in casseroles is always cream of mushroom or cream of celery... and i didn't have any mushrooms, but i had lots of celery, so i made my own cream of celery soup:

i had some leftover for chicken chop suey, your recipe

 
that Glisten you gave me sure did work!  notice the yellow/cream plate; that was the color of the dishwasher before Glisten, and after it was gleaming white, and got rid of all the hard water spots on my dishes and glasses, just like you promised:

Jon made a meal i requested on wednesday night.  usually i cook because he's tired after working all day, but it smells soooooooo much better when he does.  it's something Tim taught him, i think - penne, tomatoes, toasted walnuts, with a bleu cheese cream sauce.  it's supposed to have chicken in it, but i don't like meat lately, as i mentioned.  mmmmmm, it was so good:

and i ate all the leftover the next day for lunch

we ran out of bread yesterday, and i really wanted some, and neither jon nor i wanted to go shopping, so i just made some with what ingredients i had.  i didn't have any bread flour, but this "Crusty Cob" turned out okay with all-purpose.  i have this great book called "100 Great Breads" by paul hollywood, and he gives really interesting tips - one of which was: you don't always have to dissolve yeast in warm water, just throw it in ... and, the longer bread takes to rise (like when in a refrigerator), the more flavor it will have... etc., etc.:

i had so much fun making it, i don't think i'll even buy bread anymore!

this morning, i had some toast from the bread i made, with raspberry jam (with seeds).  it was pretty good, but i'm going to invest in a bunch of flours and yeast, etc. to make it right next time... and experiment with other breads.  wow, i'm really turning into dad.  pretty soon, i'll be making divinity and home-made tootsie rolls.  Margie got a little taste of my toast too, because i got full (the bread was dense):

breakfast on the balcony in warm spring is my favorite thing

 i'm knitting some baby washcloths, and making some maternity dresses for myself, but i will show you pictures when they're done.  i better go take a shower and then take margie for a walk in this nice weather!!!

Dear Mom ...

i made your Special K bars the other day. it was hard work cutting them. but the taste sure is worth it.  notice the traditional splash of flour on my face to show that i worked sufficiently hard:

i made myself some maternity pants.  they still need some work.  i'm going to add a stretchy Belly Band to the top (so i can easily slip them on and off), and finish the hems. i used my usual pattern - cutting a bigger version around pants i already had and making alterations as i go.  my sewing machine makes me mad, so i just hand-stitched these.  it's actually kind of relaxing to sit and stitch:

i bought my first piece of maternity clothing.  this is my belly at two months along.  (dear hips, please don't get any wider. same goes for you, chest).  i plan to use it as a template also for making other dresses.  i decided i want to wear more dresses.  watching Mary Tyler Moore made me think this.  she had such great dresses.   

all my life i have lived with a rope plant (hoya carnosa), but have never seen one bloom!  but here is mine blooming - i guess i finally have it in the right window and it likes Miracle Grow:

 i think homemade things are so much better and more loved than store bought things.  here are toys i'd like to make for my kid - rough ideas anyway:

How cute - the little monster fits in the big one!

weird snowman with long carrot nose

striped rabbit

woodland creatures

the end. for today.

Updates For My Mom, Who Is The Only One Who Reads This

My birthday present to Jon this year was telling him this:

I have almost survived the first trimester's gifts of debilitating nausea, headaches, exhaustion (i'm talking 3-4 hour naps, plus 10 hours of sleep at night), and achey-ness.

Phineas posed for a cute picture the other night:

 

...at the same time, Margie was taking a very cute nap on Jon's pillows:

African Violets that i bought at Festival a year ago are in bloom again:

My hair got way too long and stringy and damaged, so i got a haircut a couple days ago. It's just like the shag i had the summer after 5th grade:

I enjoy the many spam comments i get on this blog now - keep 'em coming!  you really know how to sell me crap!

Today I Made A Pie

Today I watched one of my most favorite movies The Waitress and decided to make a pie.  Watch the movie and I guarantee you'll want to invent your own. Unless you don't like baking or being creative.  Then, I guess you're a boring human being and you can just go buy one at the store and watch your boring prime time tv tonight.  

pastry crust preparation thanks to Better Homes & Gardens

Cutting up berries with a paring knife the way my mom taught me (the opposite of Boyscout knife safety - towards the thumb - although, if you ask Jon to tell you one of his Scout Camp stories, they didn't follow the safety rules anyway) gave me an intense sense of nostalgia.  I always used to ask my mom, "How do you not cut yourself but you cut the whole piece of fruit?"  I can't tell you the secret.  But maybe a Boyscout can.

Mixed berry filling

The waitress in the movie (The Waitress) creates and invents her own pies and gives them unique names.  That was a good enough excuse for me.  It's called Bad Dog Sweet Berry Pie, in honor of my dog's bipolar behaviors today... that, and all I had to make a pie was a bunch of berries and some Icelandic chocolate to melt and do something with.

double crust with swirly vents

Midway through baking, the oven began to seep a lovely smokey smell.  I love the smell of fire, but I don't love the sound of fire alarms, so I decided to put some foil under the baking pie to catch the oozing berry filling juice before the oven caught on fire.  When it came out, I drizzled some of that bittersweet Bjork chocolate on top.
 

Bad Dog Sweet Berry pie

Unfortunately, the results of the pie could not be photographed because they were worse than my bad dog.  Note to self: if you're going to use fresh berries in a pie, learn how to bake a pie.  No one wants to eat runny diarrhea berry pie.  And Chef Jon said the chocolate was a bad addition.  Pie Fail.


Will practice make perfect???

From Last Summer until now

Phineas and Margie became cuddle buddies...

Then, Margie decided it was okay to sit on the cat.  Phineas had no say. 

Last year's summer deck garden was a hit.  Even neighbors complimented it and then competed with their own decks.  Susan can't wait for this Spring.

Oh, let's see...

So much has gone on lately...

Susan painted some flower cards and sent one to her mom (post mom's total knee-replacement surgery) and the others to the ladies she visit-teaches at church:


Raisa, our niece, took some photos shown below at Susan's brother Steve's 1st annual Heathfest (music fest and homemade beer tasting) at his home in Riverfalls, WI this past September:


Sue sang harmony on a couple songs with Jon after he dragged her up there:



Raisa with Luci:


Congratulations to Raisa for managing to snap a candid photo of Jon:


Raisa's bro, Brenden:


Sue posing for Raisa's photo shoot:








Brenden and his dad Steve (Sue's brother) tuning for their band performance:





Raisa's coolest friend, Emily in the background:


Brad & Steve's acoustic group (Steve is an amAzing guitar player and singer):



In other newz...

We moved to an apartment and it is lovely.
Susan is a busy bee working on finishing her "thesis" for her Masters, with the help of Courtney's genius tip of "just do 15 minutes each day" and it is working (which is a godsend after a year of feeling no motivation to finish it).
Jon is awesome and always right.
Margie wears a no-bark shock collar while the humans are away, and it finally worked after a whole day of it not working - whew!
and the cats are weird and meaowy (two of which will find new homes soon, as the apartment only allows two pets total).

that's our update!

peace out.

Fall Foliage & Feistiness

Susan's favorite colors as a little girl were pink & purple... Mother Nature gave her a present this year:


...which the bumblebees partook of gratefully:


vibrant colors in autumn look so lovely along Susan's hand-laid stone path leading up to the back door of the house:


...as the bunny rabbit wind vein points the way to the colors:



Meanwhile... Margie plays a game with our backyard wheelbarrow and her ball to entertain herself when her "sticks" (fallen tree branches) are resting... or boring...


she places her ball atop the push-cart wheelbarrow:


pretends that the wheelbarrow has stolen her ball and begins a repetitive shrieking scold:


she then manages to rescue her ball from the criminal cart:


and then howls at the wheelbarrow for accosting her and her favorite toy:


...a quick pose for wheelbarrow advertisement in Sears catalogue:


...the ball goes to the other side of the wheelbarrow and she continues to bark:


Our neighbours on the other side of the white picket fence (who gave us our pumpkin recently that was growing on their side), came home during this dog game and the lady asked, "Is that Margie barking???!! Wow, I've never heard her bark before!" And Susan laughed and explained the game as best she could over Margie's shrill vocals.